Poll Trauma and the Paranormal

[Rose White]

Was listening to “The Folklore Podcast” and they interviewed psychologist Bill Kousoulas who studies post- traumatic growth and also has an interest in the paranormal. He is embarking on a study of the connections between trauma and the paranormal. His question is something like, “Does trauma lead to paranormal experiences or do paranormal experiences lead to trauma?”

It made me think about empathy and hyper vigilance and the connection those states might have with paranormal experiences.

My poll is black and white but I am curious, if you want to share, whether your paranormal experiences, if you had them, happened before, during, and/or after trauma.

 

[somerandomguy]

I've had a couple of events that, if I hadn't known better, I could have explained away as paranormal experiences.

I had one event a few months from my trauma during which I seemed to be watching myself from the ceiling of a corner of the room, and I heard a very loud voice. I had no idea what it was for many years until I realized that it had been a dissociative event. And I found that even more disturbing than not having an answer. If my brain could do that to me, what else could it do?

Some pretty bad shit, it turned out. But the only other dissociative event that other people could have mistaken for the paranormal was when I was moderating a Zoom meeting and all of a sudden my own Zoom square was no longer me - it was the face of my abuser. It was pretty shocking, but I decided to attempt to ignore it. I focused on everyone else in the meeting and after a few minutes it was me again. What the f*ck, brain.

 

[BuildingSelf24]

I don’t know if this is paranormal or would be classed as a spiritual experience.

There’s a guy I was fwbs with during college and we starting talking again after I got out of a repressive relationship. It wasn’t abusive but it wasn’t good either. After feeling like this guy wasn’t good for me, he wouldn’t take no for an answer and I felt the only way to get him to stop was to give in to his requests (fawn response), I stopped talking to him. But he popped up when I was trying a money manifestation exercise. I wanted to see if it work or not. There he was right above me. I tried to ignore him. I said a certain dollar amount to see if the exercise would work. Then it flashes to both of us on OF. I was weirded out by it and snapped out of it. I just chocked it up to a weird dream.

However, several months later, he messaged me wanting to be in a relationship. I didn’t want to. He kept persisting and eventually I said I would try. This was during the pandemic so we only had one date where we watched YouTube videos like a watch party. We had a conversation and he asked if I was doing an OF to make money. I said no. I was looking for a job at the time after leaving school. I didn’t think much of it until he brought up money and mentioned the exact dollar amount I mentioned while doing the exercise. I freaked out when I realized it wasn’t a dream or all in my head and that he had actually been communicating with me. I flat out rejected him and blocked him on everything I could find.

The only explanations I’ve had for this have come from the spiritual community saying certain people can walk through the dreams of others. I’ve met someone who said they could do that before. I don’t know if that counts as paranormal since he’s not a spirit but a real living person.

 

[Solimeysha]

I don’t know if this is paranormal or would be classed as a spiritual experience.

There’s a guy I was fwbs with during college and we starting talking again after I got out of a repressive relationship. It wasn’t abusive but it wasn’t good either. After feeling like this guy wasn’t good for me, he wouldn’t take no for an answer and I felt the only way to get him to stop was to give in to his requests (fawn response), I stopped talking to him. But he popped up when I was trying a money manifestation exercise. I wanted to see if it work or not. There he was right above me. I tried to ignore him. I said a certain dollar amount to see if the exercise would work. Then it flashes to both of us on OF. I was weirded out by it and snapped out of it. I just chocked it up to a weird dream.

However, several months later, he messaged me wanting to be in a relationship. I didn’t want to. He kept persisting and eventually I said I would try. This was during the pandemic so we only had one date where we watched YouTube videos like a watch party. We had a conversation and he asked if I was doing an OF to make money. I said no. I was looking for a job at the time after leaving school. I didn’t think much of it until he brought up money and mentioned the exact dollar amount I mentioned while doing the exercise. I freaked out when I realized it wasn’t a dream or all in my head and that he had actually been communicating with me. I flat out rejected him and blocked him on everything I could find.

The only explanations I’ve had for this have come from the spiritual community saying certain people can walk through the dreams of others. I’ve met someone who said they could do that before. I don’t know if that counts as paranormal since he’s not a spirit but a real living person.

Girl, i experienced that before. Run and pray. You do not want to be involved in that trust me

Girl run, block and pray. That person is looking to destroy you.

 

[BuildingSelf24]

Girl, i experienced that before. Run and pray. You do not want to be involved in that trust me

Girl run, block and pray. That person is looking to destroy you.

Yea. I haven’t spoken to him since then and never will.
But what do you mean by “looking to destroy”?

 

[Friday]

Then it flashes to both of us on OF.

We had a conversation and he asked if I was doing an OF to make money. I said no. I

What's "OF"?

 

[BuildingSelf24]

What's "OF"?

OnlyFans, that platform where people tend to sell explicit content of themselves.

 

[Weemie]

I've had a few. I tend to think they're within the realm of science. Temporal echoes, parallel universes, glitches, neurological blips, etc.

 

[Roland]

At drivers ed, I saw a boy in a plaid shirt with a black backpack. I looked again, he wasn’t there.

Turns out, a boy that went to the school had killed himself the night before….

 

[Roland]

Another time, at night, I was fifteen and in the middle of a mental breakdown. I was writing so fast, mind racing, contemplating suicide, and I heard a male voice very clearly begin to speak to me: “The thing about death is…”. I freaked out so bad and went to bed. Idk if it was a hallucination or someone trying to help me. It sounded like he was about to explain a lot of things to me but I only heard what I quoted.

 

[pilchardbest]

That's an interesting topic! For me, my paranormal experiences happened after a traumatic event. It made me more empathetic and hyper-vigilant, which I think heightened my sensitivity to those experiences.

 

[MrMoonlight]

I was driving through the Sonoran desert and saw a man leading a mule. He was loaded down with picks, shovels and gold pans amongst other things. The man, mule and equipment were all the same color of sand. When I drove past I looked in the rear view mirror to see them because it was so out of place but they were gone. So weird.